Battery-cell.



PATENTED DEC. 11, 1906.

J. W. BROWN.

BATTERY CELL APPLICATION FILED mum, 1906.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

,No- 838,165 PATENTED DEC. 11, 1906.

J. W. BROWN.

' BATTERY CELL.

I APPLICATION rum) 11mm, 1906.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. 1 JOHN w. BROWN, or CLEVELAND, onro,ASSIGNOR TO NATIONAL oARBoN COMPANY, or CLEVELAND, orno, A CORPORATIONor NEW JERSEY.

To all whom it majconcerh:

Be it known that 1, JOHN W. BRowN, a

l citizen of the United States, residing at Cleveland, in the county ofCuyahogaand State of Ohio, have invented a certain new and useful Imrovement in Battery-Cells, of which the foll owing is a full, clear, andexact descrlption.

The object of this inventionis to produce a battery-cell which may bekept for a long j time without deterioration, but which may be veryquickly and easily made ready for immediate use.

The invention is more articularly an improvement upon the or inary drycells in general use, and isso shown in the drawings.

The ordinary dry cell comprises a zinc cup lined with bibulous material,a carbon electrode centrallyplaced in the on and a filling of moistgranular material, w ose compositions andifunction are well understoodby those familiar with this art. pleted by a seal of itch or someanalogous "material placed in t e to of the cup around the carbonelectrode.

The cell is comuch dry cells begin to deteriorate immediately they arecompleted, even thou h not put to use, and after a time become su ticalpurposes. 3o

stantially useless for prac- The present invention has for its primarypurpose the production of a battery-cell whlch as' constructed' will notdeteriorate,

but may be very easily transformed, so as to be immediately useful andeffective.

- The invention may be summarized as consisting of the combinationsv ofparts hereinafter described, and pointed out definitely in the claims. i

p In the drawings, which show the best and most practical form of theinvention now known to me, Figure 1 is an elevation, artlyi broken away,of a dry cell embodying t e in vention, showing the form in which thecell is constructed for sale.

Fig. 2v is a plan view BATTERY-CELL.

PatentedDec. 11, 1906.

the battery parts and constituents except the metallic cups. Thewrappings of this package are partly broken away to show itsconstruction. Fig. 6 is a bottom plan view of the cup shown in Fig. 4,and Fig. 7 is a sectional view on line 7 7 of Fig. 5.

The battery includes a cup A, which is expansible in diameter and ispreferably made of zinc, so as to serve as the positive electrode. It ispreferably not exactly cylindrical,but,

a little larger in diameter at the top than at the bottom. It may beformed by bending a strip of zinc into the desired shape, overlappingthe vertical edges, and bending the ower edge thereof inward to form aflange a.

may be soldered thereto for a part of its periphery only, but should beleft free at and near the vertical'edges of said bent stri In the bestconstruction this strip is on y soldered to the bottom for aboutone-third its diameter at points as remote as possible from theoverlapping edges. Within this cu is placed. a package comprising theshel C, made of suitable bibulous material, such as is usually employedto line zinc cups in dry batteries, the centrally-placed carbon elementD, and a filling E of the usualbattery-filling acked as tightly aspracticable. This bibulPous lining extends across the bottom of the cupinthe form of one or more disks 0. A

. ulp board, may also be placed on top of the Filling closely embracingthe element D, and the to edge of the lining may be lapped over ontothis cover-disk. This package is then stroyed insulating material whichis im ervious to moisture-as, for example, para n-p'aper. The parts ofthiswrapper maybe glued or otherwise sealed together, or the wholepackage may be immersed in some such substance as parafiin, so as torender any evaporiing substantially impossible. A disk K may gluedthereto. This package is to be made in a suitable mold. The zinc cup A,properly conpanding during the operation, has been used A bottom disk ais set upon this flange and.

cover-diskK, preferably made of parafiinsealed in a wrapper made of someeasily-de on the contrary, is tapered slightly, so as to be i zation of,the moisture from the inclosed packbe placed upon the top of the packageand tracted in diameter and restrained from we wrapper of this packagenot only serves to' prevent the evaporization of moisture, but it alsoserves to insulate electrically the package from the cup A. Thispackage, constructed as described, is then placed within cup A;Preferably, however, the cup is lined with some material as, forexample, the lining M m of paper whichis not coated with parafiin forthe purpose of keeping the interior surface of the zinc cup fromcontacting with the paraflin-paper, because if it did contact therewithit might become to a greater -or less extent coated with the paraffinand so to that extent be rendered inoperative when the cell istransformed for use.

The package having been placed in the zinc cup, this zinc cup is theninserted as far as practicable into another cup G, preferably made ofzinc and similar in shape, but a trifle larger in diameter, therebyforming the structure shown in Fig. 1, which is the. formin which thecell is to be offered for sale. When in this form, it is absolutelyinert and sufiers no deterioration so long as it is allowed to remain inthis condition. When, however, it is desired to use the cell, the zinccup A is re moved from the cup G, the package is removed from zinc cupA, and the paraffin-paper wrapper is torn from said package. The packageis then replaced in the cup A, and this cup is put back into the cup Gand pushed into the same as far as possible. This contracts cup Atightly around the package and into intimate contact with the bibulousshell C. The cell may now be used; but itwill be rendered very much moreefficient if prior to use the battery-filling E is packed down moretightly than it is possible to pack it practically when it is onlyconfined by the bibulous covering and the paraflin-paper wrapper. Thisfilling maybe packed by placinga disk for example, a disk of wood havinga hole for the carbon element to pass throughon top of the battery mixand pounding it down. A wood disk J, capable of being used for thispurpose, may be placed in the cup G below cup A when the parts areassembled for sale in the form shown in Fig. 1-. The cell transformed inthe manner described is ready for immediate use. If the battery-fillingis packed tightly by pounding upon said disk, the battery will be foundto be even more efficient than the dry cells as heretofore constructed,because the battery-filling can be packed in this way more tightly thanit is ordinarily packed in the dry cells of commerce.

In removing the paraflin-paper wrapper it is only necessary to move theside and bottom portions thereof. The top parts of said wrapper ifallowed to remain will serve as a seal for the cell, servingsubstantially the same function as the pitch seal commonly employed inthe ordinary dry cell.

The binding-posts P P -may be permanently secured to the cup A and thecarbon electrode D.

Having described my invention, I claim 1 A new article of manufacturecomprising a battery-cell wherein one of the electrodes is separatedfrom the other part of the cell by an insulating-partition which is alsoimpervious to moisture, whereby the cell is rendered inactive until suchpartition is removed, but becomes active by the mere removal of suchpartition.

2. A battery-cell comprising an outer electrode in the form of a cup,and apackage fitted to said cup and sealed in an easily-destructiblewrapper of insulating material which is also impervious to moisture,said package so sealed up consisting of an outer shell of bibulousmaterial, an electrode in said shell, and finely-comminutedbattery-filling packed in shell around said electrode.

3. A battery-cell comprising an outer zinc cup, and a package fittedtherein and sealed in an easily-destructible wrapper of an insulatingmaterial which is also impervious to moisture, said package consistingof an outer shell of bibulous material, a carbon electrode centrallyplaced within said shell, and finely.- comminuted battery-filling packedin said bibulous shell around said carbon electrode.

4. A battery-cell comprising an outer zinc cup of variable diameter, anouter cup into which said zinc cup may be inserted, and a package fittedwithin said zinc cup and sealed in an easily-destructible wrapper ofinsulating material which is also impervious to moisture, said packageso sealed up consisting of an outer shell of bibulous material, a carbonelectrode within said shell, and finely-comminuted battery-fillingpacked within said shell around said electrode.

5. In a battery-cell comprising a zinc cup of variable diameter, a shellof bibulous material, a carbon electrode, and finely-comminutedbattery-filling packed around said carbon electrode within said shell ofbibulous material, a removable insulating-wrapper between said zinc cupand bibulous shell, and means for contractingthe diameter of said zinccup.

- 6. In a battery-cell, a zinc electrode comprising a bottom disk and anupright wall whichis formed by bending a strip of zinc intosubstantially cylindrical form and overlapping its upright edges, saidstrip being unattached to said disk at and for a consider-.

said overlapping edges able distance from thereof. 1 e

7. In a battery-cell, a zinc cup comprising a strip bent intosubstantially cylindrical form with overlapping edges and having itslower edge bent inward, combined with a disk within said cup restingupon said flange but being unattached to said flange at the overlap inged es of said wall, and for a con- F g Y siderab distance therefrom.

8. A battery-cell comprising an outer zinc cup circular in cross-sectionbut of slightlyincreasing diameter from bottom to top, a zinccupsimilarly shaped but contractible as to diameter, which cup is fitted tothe outer cup and is adapted to "be contracted in di-" ameter by beingforceddown into said outer cup, a protecting-lining tothe inner cup, and

i a package within said inner cup comprising a shell of'bibulousmaterial, a;carbon electrode therein, finely-crimminuted batteryvious tomoisture.

9. A battery-cell comprising an outer zinc cup circular in cross-sectionbut of slightlyincreasing diameter from bottom to top, a zinc cupsimilarly shaped but contractible as to diameter, which cup is fitted tothe outer cup and is adapted to be contracted in diameter by beingforced down into said outer cup, a protecting-lining to the inner cup,and a package within said inner cup comprising i a shell of bibulousmaterial, a carbon electrode therein, finelycomminuted battery-fillingpacked within said shell around said electrode, and awrapper ofparafiin-paper sealed around said package.

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses.

JOHN W. BROWN.

Witnesses:

. E. L. THURSTON, E. B. GILoHRIs'r.

